Consonants (orthography in parentheses where different from IPA; weakly held distinctions in square brackets)
| labial | apico-alveolar | lamino-dental | lamino-palatal | dorso-velar | |
| stop | b | d | [d̪ (dh),t̪ (th)] | ɟ (dj) | [g, k] |
| nasal | m | n | n̪ (nh) | ɲ (yn) | ŋ (ng) |
| rhotic | [r (rr),ɹ (r)] | ||||
| lateral | l | ||||
| approximant | w | y |
· there is a weakly held voicing distinction between /g/ and /k/, for example gurra /gara/ ’mosquito’ vs. kurra /kara/ ’no’ and between /d̪/ and /t̪/, with a possible minimal pair /buthirri/ boothirri ‘cold’ and /budhirri/ boodhirri ‘wind’, although in traditional Yangga these may have been the same word. Cf. also /wuthung/ woothoong ‘crow’ – *woodhoong
· There is a non-phonemic distinction between /ɹ/ and /r/, although these would possibly have contrasted in traditional Yangga
· The probable initial velar nasal of traditional Yangga has collapsed with the alveolar nasal, e.g./naya/ naya ‘I’ possibly for traditional Yangga ngaya
· There are no examples in the data of a lamino-dental nasal occurring without a previous lamino-dental stop, e.g. /wanhthi/ wunthi ‘tame dog’, although this would possibly have occurred in traditional Yangga.
Vowels
| front | central | back | |
| high | i | u | |
| low | a |
[o] is an allophone of /u/ after a voiced velar stop /g/ or labial approximant /w/. For example: /wurigal/ worrigul ‘wild dog’
There is a non-phonemic medial schwa, possibly not present in traditional Yangga, e.g. /bularu/ [buləru] boolaroo ’two’
| sound | is represented by | example |
| /u/ | oo | goondooloo /gundulu/ |
| /a/ | u when medial, a when final | /bana/ bunna ’stomach’ /galaba/ gullubba ’left arm’ |
| [ə] | a | boolaroo ’two’ /bularu/ |
| double letters | indicate the previous vowel is short | e.g. mulla /mala/ ‘hand’ |
| Exception: a single letter is used after oo | e.g. yoori /yuri/ ‘meat’, /migulu/ miggooloo ‘white man/ghost’ | |
| Note this means the (weak) distinction between /ɹ/ and /r/ is collapsed in the orthography. | ||
| /ɲ/ | yn | /bundjaɲ/ boondjayn ‘dust’ |
Dr. Angela Terrill, Linguist